Shenmue Wiki

[denile]

I really love the Shenmue Wiki:

http://shenmue.wikia.com/wiki/Shenmue_Wiki

I've been reading some entries in preparation for the next installment of Shenmue and I came across the entry for Yuan:

"Yuan (ユアン) (born April 4th, 1962) is Dou Niu's right-hand man who is an high-ranking executive of the Yellow Head gang, that operates in Kowloon. Yuan is a cross-dresser that has a relationship with Dou Niu. He often blackmails Kowloon's shopkeepers, as they are all afraid of him and Dou Niu"

I am no expert but does it strike anybody that this seems kind of transphobic? Is this the same kind of language used in the game or official literature? Do we know if Yuan is supposed to identify as a man or woman and if s/he identifies as a woman then surely Shenmue should use feminine pronouns etc. Isn't transvestite a term used for a festish as opposed to gender identification?

[NeoShredder]

In the Japanese version of the game, Yuan is a man "cross-dressing" as a woman, and voiced by a man and is referred to by male pronouns by other characters. In the western releases, she's portrayed and voiced by a woman and refered to by female pronouns. That's part of the confusion here.

Suffice to say, the original character is a man who dresses as a woman. If its any consolation, I don't think Triad culture in 1980's Hong Kong was very politically correct.

[denile]

Ha! Yes, I doubt that 1980's Hong Kong was big on PC language and it's realistic for in-game characters to refer to Yuan as male.

That said, it comes across as a tad inappropriate when it's in a 2015 wiki or if it was in official literature. I'm fairly sure that people who are transgendered (which you would have to assume Yuan is) prefer if people use the pronouns of the gender they identify with. Yuan is fictional and a bit of a dick so I wouldn't worry about hurting her feelings but I suspect it pisses off transgender folks.

[shredingskin]

Someone should call an expert on gay culture !!!!

The new website also uses he.

I see a new clickbait article coming soon.

[Miles Prower]

I'm fairly certain male transvestites still consider themselves a 'he', don't they? They just like dressing in a feminine way.

[joka]

Depends if Yuan is a transexual or a transvestite... Which is very difficult to determine anyway even without the regional variations on how the character is portrayed as NeoShredder detailed....

[denile]

What's the new website?

Also, a gay culture expert would be useless. It would have to be LGBTQ expert, surely?

I'm not sure but isn't it usually a part time thing for transvestites? Most save it for the bedroom, aside from drag queens and the like. Yuan seems to dress as a woman all of the time and I don't think it's really for sexual gratification. Seems more like transgender?

Put it this way, if people were offended by this, I think a clickbate article on Yuan is possible.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/06/25/ ... 01-issues/

[denile]

I'm fairly certain male transvestites still consider themselves a 'he', don't they? They just like dressing in a feminine way.

Think so. Was the description of Yuan as a transvestite official? I've always thought that they probably seemed more likely to be transgender. Even if Yu Suzuki officially said Yuan was a transvestite and not transgender, I suspect there would be people who argue that Yuan's behaviour indicates that description is inaccurate. Then again, I'm not sure if there are regional differences in the labels different countries apply to these sorts of things. For all I know, the transgender/transvestite distinction might not exist in Japan and Japanese trans folk might not even care about gendered pronouns.

Given how things have changed since 2001, I suspect that if Shenmue came out today (with Yuan as a trans-something character), it is more likely that the character would be regarded as offensive by somebody. LGBTQ folk in general seem to be much more vocal about negative or offensive portrayals in art and entertainment.

[joka]

I'm fairly certain male transvestites still consider themselves a 'he', don't they? They just like dressing in a feminine way.

Think so. Was the description of Yuan as a transvestite official? I've always thought that they probably seemed more likely to be transgender. Even if Yu Suzuki officially said Yuan was a transvestite and not transgender, I suspect there would be people who argue that Yuan's behaviour indicates that description is inaccurate. Then again, I'm not sure if there are regional differences in the labels different countries apply to these sorts of things. For all I know, the transgender/transvestite distinction might not exist in Japan and Japanese trans folk might not even care about gendered pronouns.

Given how things have changed since 2001, I suspect that if Shenmue came out today (with Yuan as a trans-something character), it is more likely that the character would be regarded as offensive by somebody. LGBTQ folk in general seem to be much more vocal about negative or offensive portrayals in art and entertainment.

That's very true we are! Lol

Like I don't even get or like the Q being added- LGBT is enough.... Is the Q an Americanism?!

[denile]

I would bet good money it is.

Then again, there are people who don't identify as L, G, B, T, cisgendered or heteronormative. I guess the Q is a way of stopping the addition of 15 more letters. Q covers all of the bases.

[Three Blades]

Does he have a d*ck? Then I call him a "he" because that's what he is.

[Miles Prower]

At the end of the day, it is not made clear whether Yuan is transgender, or simply a transvestite, and the profiles in the Japanese guidebook refer to him as male, so I don't really see how referring to the character as 'he' can cause any offence...